microsoft / microsoft/WSL

hostname for bash prompt

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#7,108 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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feature
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C++
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Description

I noticed changing my hostname doesn't affect bash prompt under WSL, and I'm wondering if that can be changed --

I'ved changed:

sudo hostname wsl

I also changed /etc/hostname to "wsl" and changed /etc/hosts as well.

But my hostname in bash prompt never changed.

As per bash prompt user manual

\h
The hostname, up to the first ‘.’.

So I think, for normal case, it is read from either /etc/hostname or /etc/hosts.

Describe the solution you'd like

Any of the above changing of my hostname method can affect bash prompt.

For reason behind that, "I have 6 different wsl instances for different purposes. Most of the times I can't figure out which instance I'm currently in."

Describe alternatives you've considered

I know the official solution is to change the host system's name from System --> Change Settings --> Change, but I'd like to identify my WSL distribution in different sessions, e.g. UbuntuA, UbuntuB and UbuntuC.

Additional context

I know "WSL doesn't allow you to set a hostname separately from the computer".
and I know from #125 that "Changing the hostname from Bash is currently not supported"

but if you do a search on "WSL Change hostname", you can see that it is a common request, meaning most people have the same desire as this.

Please consider. thx!

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue names no source files or tests. Start with the Bash prompt manual and prior issue #125, then investigate how WSL supplies the hostname to Bash; done requires a maintainer-defined approach for identifying separate distributions.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
bash, linux
Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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